Born in Canyon del Muerto, New Mexico, Robert Draper is from the Navajo-Laguna Pueblo. Mainly self-taught, he has worked as an art instructor at the Chinle Boarding School and settled in Chinle. He paints realistic watercolor landscapes and genre of the Navajo Reservation. A favorite subject is Canyon de Chelly.

Source:
Donald Hagerty, Canyon de Chelly

From the age of two, the artist, who was born Robert Martin (son of Janet Descheeny and Frank Martin), was raised by his grandparents whose name was Draper. When he was eight years old and sent to the Chinle Boarding School, the school changed his name to Robert Draper.

Robert Draper was born in 1938 on the Navajo (Diné) Reservation. He attended the Chinle, AZ Boarding School and the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Today he is an art instructor and a full-time artist.

He is best known for his realistic landscapes of the Navajo Reservation.


Source:
Robert Lester, The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters, p. 156